Ahmet Taner Kışlalı (10 July 1939 in Zile, Turkey – 21 October 1999 in Ankara) was a Turkish intellectual, political scientist, lawyer, commentator/author for the Cumhuriyet newspaper, academics and politician.[1]

He received a degree from the School of Political Sciences at Ankara University, in 1963. During his college years, he also worked in the newspaper "Yeni Gün", published in Ankara. He got his PhD on "Çağdaş Türkiye'de Siyasal Güçler" (Political Powers in Contemporary Turkey) from the University of Paris, Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science. He started his academic life as a lecturer in Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Ankara. He then moved to School of Political Sciences at Ankara University and became an assistant professor, and later an associate professor in 1977.

In 1977 he was elected to the Turkish parliament, Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as deputy of İzmir. Between the years 1978 and 1979, he was appointed to position of ministry of culture, by prime minister Bülent Ecevit. During his term of ministry, he restarted the effort of printing classical works by the state press, making these available to masses at reasonable prices.

After the military coup of 12 September 1980, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı went back to the academia, and became a full professor in 1988. He continued to give lectures on political science in Department of Communication at Ankara University, after his retirement. Starting from 1991, he had a regular column in the leftist newspaper Cumhuriyet with the title "Haftaya Bakış" ("A View of the Week").

On 21 October 1999, shortly after having faxed his article to the newly Cumhuriyet at 9:40 h local time, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı left his home and headed for his car. As he got in the car, he noticed a packing placed at the windshield wiper. He picked it up with his left arm, and at that moment an explosion occurred tearing off his left arm at elbow. His wristwatch penetrated into his head together with bomb shrapnel. His wife Nilüfer Kışlalı arranged for his immediate delivery to a hospital, where however his death only was ascertained.[2]